49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
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STARGOOSE
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STARGOOSE is an arcade-style game from Spinnaker. The plot is this: A
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voluptuous woman propositions an ex-starfighter pilot; she wants him to take a
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brand new fighter to the land of NOM, in order to obtain all of the power
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crystals in the land. Of course, "the land" is studded with machine gun nests,
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laser pillboxes, automatic rocket launchers, and robotic attack vehicles. (This
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review is based on the IBM-PC version.)
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The game's instructions are terse, but after one play session, they're easy
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understand. The STARGOOSE screen consists of two parts: Above is a top-down view
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of your ship, and a quasi-three-dimensional view of your opponents and the
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landscape. The bottom section displays a status panel. On the left, the words
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"Fuel," "Ammo," and "Shields" are colored in; as you expend these items, they
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change color proportionally to indicate their values. Missiles and lives
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remaining are graphically portrayed on the right. In addition, your score
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appears constantly on the bottom.
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Essentially, you guide your ship using the cursor keys (up arrow to accelerate,
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down arrow to brake) while firing lasers or missiles. You begin with six
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missiles and a certain amount of fuel, laser power, and shield strength. You can
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replenish your fuel, ammo, and shields by entering an appropriate supply tunnel
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(watch out for rocket launchers when you leave the tunnel!), and by flying into
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the approaching blue eyes. To amass more missiles, you need to fly through the
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missile gates. You gain points by picking up the power crystals, and by
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destroying the enemy: You get a new STARGOOSE for every 100,000 points.
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The PC version of STARGOOSE runs on IBM PC/AT/XT and true compatibles. It
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requires 384K for CGA graphics, and 512K for EGA. Inside the game box are two
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disks, one each for CGA and EGA. The disks are not copy-protected. Also included
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is a four-page instruction/plotline folder.
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The EGA graphics are good, and the game plays fairly smoothly. For those who
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are relatively ambidextrous, the game controls are easily manipulated. Others
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may have a bit of trouble quickly coordinating missile fire, laser fire,
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movement, and speed. Joystick control (available in the Commodore, Atari, and
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Amiga versions) would probably work better, but the IBM-PC edition allows you to
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use only the mouse or the keyboard for play. I tried both: The mouse action
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seemed sluggish, and the ship tended to skate when moving laterally; otherwise,
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all other mouse controls were equivalent, except for the firing of the left
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missile, which still required the use of the keyboard. You can toggle the sound
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using the F2 key, and pause or continue the game with the F3 and F keys,
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respectively.
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STARGOOSE is published and distributed by Spinnaker.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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